𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭'𝐬 𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐞

Pecking Order

Katrina was underwater. It was pitch-dark. She put her hand in front of her face but couldn't see anything. She felt like she couldn't breathe but there was no panic, just a sense of peace. A small light, as if glowing through a pinhole, emerged in the depths below her. She swam towards it, the water felt thick; like she wasn't moving. She could hear a faint voice but couldn't make it out; she swam faster towards it. The voice sounded garbled under the water but became increasingly louder and more clear.

"Katrina....Katrina...."

She felt herself floating to the surface, an unseen force pulling her away from the light that she'd been trying to swim towards. Suddenly the light was blinding; she blinked away from it and tried to turn her head to avoid it.

"Katrina, Katrina, are you okay? Open your eyes..." A penlight shifted back and forth across her eyes. She began to regain her senses and heard muffled outgoing 5.56 rounds that became more clear as she became in tune with her surroundings again. She opened her eyes and realized she was on her back with Logan kneeling next to her, she made half an effort to push his hand away that held the flashlight.

"You and your damn flashlight, Logan—," She said out of spite, Logan rolled his eyes knowing she didn't mean how it came across.

"You good?"

"I think so," She responded in a hoarse tone, still trying to regain a sense of where she was.

"You don't know how lucky you are right now," He told her as he pointed to left of where she was lying. She had landed on top of cinder blocks and other debris, a look of shock flashed in her eyes when she looked over and realized how close she had come to being impaled by a twisted metal support rod sticking out of the rubble next to her.

Kick.

"Kick—," She panicked, trying to sit up but she felt intense pain that made her lie back, "Where's Kick, Logan."

"Not sure, I just got down here and you were the first one I saw. That mortar came too damn close t—."

He stopped, both of them looked up as the sound of another mortar being shot was heard in the distance.

"Oh my god," Logan gasped.

"EVERYONE DOWN! THERE'S ANOTHER INCOMING!" Price called out over the radio.

It's haunting screech familiar as it impacted into what was known as building A. The rooftop where Task Force 141 was holding their position. The round impacted dead center on the roof blowing all of them in different directions before they had the chance to properly react.

"No—," Katrina gasped, her hand over her mouth and mask as she watched the fireball erupt and smoke began to climb. Did I just lose him...

Please, god, no.

A few seconds later, a third mortar was shot and collided with the building that Jade and Neptune were on, luckily it hit the top corner of the roof and didn't hit either of them full-on.

"Building "A" check in!" Laswell panicked over the radio. But there was no response. "Someone get up there and check on them!" She beckoned.

"Anyone got visual on them?!" Logan called out over the radio as more sporadic outgoing rounds went off, indicating that the enemy force were beginning a second wave of attacks.

"NEGATIVE! TOO MUCH SMOKE!" Hesh responded, gunfire echoed off in the background indicating an active engagement.

"We've got about thirty five to forty tangos! We can't spare anyone right now to go up there!" Keegan warned.